DYNAMO CITY
Classification: Extra-terrestrial self-sufficient city, located in the 18D-X-M quadrant
Creator: I the Great, its backers
Residents: I the Great (controller), C2DT42 (deputy process server), Zeaklar Flatius Belgewater (Tent City)
Features: Central Battery, Sensory Stimulation Network, Tent City (an immense shanty town)
First Appearance: Silver Surfer III#40 (August, 1990)
Nature: Dynamo City is the ultimate bureaucracy. It is run by I the Great, a being which is blind, deaf, and mute. It is an Omni-Energy Absorbing Complex, and runs by draining the power of its inhabitants. All forms of energy are collected and stored in a central battery. It is set up so the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
History:
Dynamo City was created an unknown period of time ago. The entity
known as I the Great is reputed to be its founder. More likely,
one or several beings actually discovered I and what it could do
and drafted it into their service. Using I's ability to
coordinate a virtually limitless number of activities, energies,
etc., they built the immense bureaucracy known as Dynamo City.
Thanos is known to have encountered Dynamo City at some point in
the past.
Dynamo City was first encountered when Thanos
sought to gather the Infinity Gems to from the Infinity Gauntlet.
He realized the Silver Surfer would interfere with these plans,
so he set up the means to keep him occupied until he successfully
completed his mission. Thanos managed to set himself up with
citizenship in Dynamo City, and then faked his own death at the
hands of the Surfer. This led Dynamo City's law enforcement
division to form a Board of Inquiry to investigate these events.
A droid, C2DT42, located the Silver Surfer in his space travels to
request the Surfer's presence before the board. The Surfer 
refused to attend, until he
learned that the Board also had Thanos' last will and testament.
C2DT42 opened an inter-dimensional corridor to the city. Upon
entering, the Surfer found himself powerless, his power cosmic
drained by the City, and he was beaten into submission and hauled
before the court. The Surfer's mind was probed and he was found
innocent, since the death was accidental. However, since he did
not have the funds to pay the exit tax, he was forced to stay in
the city until he could make enough money to pay it.
The Surfer attempted to get a job, but as his
heralding skills were not need, and his previous career in
science had taught him nothing about the technology of Dynamo
City, he was sent into manual labor. However, without the power
cosmic to regulate it, the Surfer was unable to work out in the
hot sun, which threatened to boil him within his silver skin. As
a result, he was labeled as a vagrant and sent to Tent City. There he befriended Zeaklar, and learned of the
Sensory Stimulation Network. The Surfer agreed to let the Network
broadcast his memories over the airwaves in exchange for payment.
However, it was all a scam, and after everyone had taken their
cut, the Surfer was given only half of what he needed to escape
Dynamo City. Enraged, he attempted to attack the host of the
show, but was beaten into submission by security drones and cast
out on the streets. When he awoke, even the two credits he had
earned were gone. 
The Surfer concocted a plan to sign up for a
show on the Network, and use the energy of the Network to force
his way in to see the Great I, hoping to plead the injustice of
his case to him. The Surfer succeeded in making his way into I's
chamber, exhausting the last of his stolen energy, but found out
that I was just a pawn of the rich bureaucrats. He received
another beating from the guards. 
After another kangaroo court trial (in which his own defense attorney-bot was deactivated), the Surfer was condemned to death, as was Zeaklar, who attempted to fight the guards. However, the preferred method of termination was teleportation into space, which allowed the Surfer to regain his power. However, Zeaklar, who the Surfer quickly saved from asphyxiation and freezing, convinced him that if he attempted to take down Dynamo City, thousands of innocents would likely be killed in the battle against the city's defenses. The Surfer dropped Zeaklar off at the planet Pyrofax and vowed to return to take down Dynamo City someday.
Comments: Created by Jim Starlin and Ron Lim.
This was a somewhat
light-hearted adventure, the calm before the storm, preceding the
Infinity Gauntlet storyline.
I would really, really enjoy seeing Starlin and Lim write a story detailing Thanos' initial encounter with Dynamo City.
images:
Other appearances:
Silver Surfer III#41-43 (September-November, 1990)
Last updated: 04/18/04
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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